The present device relates to a baby carriage which can be also used as a shopping carrier and in which a basket for receiving articles is mounted on the lower surface of a seat board in such a manner as to be slidable and foldable.
There have been known various constructions of baby carriages which are used to carry infants.
Some baby carriages are widely known to have full reclining mechanisms. Such a mechanism enables the relative angle between a seat portion on which an infant may be placed and a backrest portion to be freely changed from a condition in which the infant is seated to a condition in which it lies. Further, various carriage-pushing mechanisms for moving baby carriages have been known; they include a mechanism in which a pushing bar is located at the back of an infant so that the carriage can be pushed from the back thereof, and a mechanism in which a pushing handle is located in front of an infant so that the carriage can be pushed while the pusher faces the infant.
With known baby carriages, however, since the main function of baby carriages is to carry infants, there have been made no effective mechanisms for loading baby carriages with baggages and carrying them.
That is, although it has been known to provide a conventional baby carriage with a small article-receiving body, such as a basket, which is mounted on the lower surface of the seat board of the carriage, such a known article receiving body has to be mounted directly below the reverse surface of the seat board (i.e., within the projection area thereof). This is because of certain limitations concerning a mechanism for folding the baby carriage and of structural limitations concerning handling, etc. of the baby carriage.
If the construction of an article receiving body as described above is such that it is shaped like a relatively shallow plate, this would not cause much trouble. However, if the article receiving body is formed as a deep receptacle in order to increase the capacity thereof, a reduction is caused in space between the reverse surface of the seat board and the plane at the upper end of the article receiving body in which it opens. As a result, an operation of placing an article or articles in the body inevitably involved an operation of inserting the article(s) through the narrowly spaced gap formed between the seat board and the planed defined by the opening. This means that the entire opening area of article receiving body cannot be used effectively, which is disadvantageous.
In order to overcome this problem, a baby carriage also usable as a shopping carrier was devised and developed as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 84805/1986 filed by the deviser of the present device. In this baby carriage, the plane in which the article receiving body opens is dislocated rearwardly from the lower surface of the seat board, thereby enabling a large opening area to be formed. However, this arrangement is nevertheless inconvenient. Because the article receiving body is fixed in place in such a manner as to be foldable in its fixed condition, the body inevitably forms a bulky structure on the back side of the backrest of the baby carriage when the body is folded.
The present device has been accomplished to cope with the circumstances described above, in view thereof. An object of the present device is to provide a baby carriage also usable as a shopping carrier which not only can serve as a baby carriage for carrying an infant but also can carry in infant while the baby carriage simultaneously receives and carries plenty of articles purchased during shopping.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a baby carriage also usable as a shopping carrier having an article receiving body which is mounted on the lower surface of a seat board and which is adapted in such a manner that, when the body is to be used, it is slided to and fixed at a position at the rear of a seat board, thereby enabling effective use of the entire opening area provided at the upper end of the article receiving body, while, when the body is not in use, it is moved and returned to a position below the lower surface of the seat board so as to be stowed, thereby enabling very compact folding and stowing of the baby carriage per se.